


there's nowhere else that i belong

by SamiraScamander



Category: Absentia (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29261508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamiraScamander/pseuds/SamiraScamander
Summary: collection of small (<500 words) fics
Relationships: Emily Byrne/Cal Isaac
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	1. my lover's the sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> set in 3x06

They had just jumped off the train and were on the run now, escaping the people searching for them. They won't stop, she knows. They're after her, she knows. 

But she's not scared. She doesn't feel anything of the sort except for the almost giddy happiness she feels when she looks at Cal. Her partner. All she can think about is how thoroughly alive she feels in this moment, right there. She looks over at Cal, and she laughs and he smiles back and oh, he looks so beautiful. 

He's so beautiful, with the smile that lights up his whole face, with the love shining through his eyes. The love she knows is reciprocated on her face as well. Even though they will fall back in the rush of the mission in a few seconds, she treasures small, happy moments immensely. She puts these deep in her heart, puts a lock on it, guards them, so that no one will ever take them away from her. She'll always have her loved ones close. Reasons to stay human. She knows he does too. But oh, it's so nice to have someone who feels the same.


	2. 3x04 call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's the 3x04 but with now added thoughts and feelings ENJOY!!

Emily was getting ready to leave as he calls her to update her on the situation, as promised, but she's not surprised. She got a deal with him after all, it makes sense for him not to be in the room afterwards. She doesn't tell him this though, just stays quick and lets him figure it out on his own that this information isn't new to her.

"Emily, you're not surprised.", he interprets her silence correctly.

(as always, he knows _just_ how to read her, like it's a language he studied and got a degree in. She supposes it's true, he's becoming faster each day with decrypting how she functions, why she does the things she does.)

"Emily?", he's waiting for answer, for her to explain her reaction, but she's afraid she can't give it to him.

"I'm sorry, Cal.", she says, her voice getting way deeper with the meaning of her words. Emily takes a deep breath.

"I hope you're not disappointed."

"What are you doing?", he sounds concerned, but then again, it would surprise her if he wouldn't be.

She knows she can trust him, deep down she always knew he'd be someone she can depend on, someone trustworthy. She hadn't been ready before, she'd been such a mess, hell she still is. It's more manageable now though. Emily learned how to cope with it and despite everything else, she has him. He's always by her side, always trusting her, always right there when she needs it, when it all gets too much. That's why, despite all reason, she still accepted his call. Time was running out, Dawkins could arrive any second and she'd have to stop, she can't tell him anything, but despite it all, she still picked up when he called because that's what they do. They call each other, they pick up, they meet up, they do their job, they go out for a drink or go back to his or her place, they spend time together. It's what they do. She _trusts_ him, wholeheartedly, and it's been a surprise for her to be quite frank. Before Moldova, she wasn't sure what to think of him, she liked working with him, he was smart, insightful, but she was such a mess and couldn't need him in her research. But he proved her wrong and oh, how glad she was that he did. Moldova made her finally trust him, and it was all she needed, really. They were a team now.

She hangs up at the sounds of a car driving by and remains like that for a second, before she enters Dawkins' car.

"So… Let’s go to Jericho.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3x05 au: what could've happened if cal showed up at the party and the party was slightly more classy (think ballroom dancing and classical music)

She looks around and takes a sip from her wine glass. She's not really someone who drinks a lot of wine, but this one tastes weird. Emily placed her glass back on the table. Dawkins hasn't crossed her path yet, but the organizer of this party has. The woman who forced that terrible wine on her. Emily looked around, trying to get a good feel of the scene she was in and the people within, while she was trying to figure out how to create a distraction and move along with her plan to investigate. She felt something move behind her and drove around only to find herself staring in the eyes of a man she knew all too well. Cal. 

"Cal.", she said, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice, but with him around, she wasn't sure if it worked out. He didn't comment on it though.

"Byrne.", he smiled at her. 

"What are you doing here?"

She couldn't understand what he was doing here or how he even found out where she was. Why would he put himself in danger like this? Completely unnecessary, where he knew nothing about the situation? Well, granted, so did she, but at least she had a good reason: Saving Nick. Saving the father of her son. She couldn't figure him out, but that had to wait for another time.

"I had vacation days. Thought it'd be a great time of the year to see Berlin.", he smirked. He looked at her in a way that signalled don't worry about it, it's being taken care of and challenge me all in one look. Impressive, she had to give him that.

"May I have this dance, Miss...?", he asked with a smirk on his lips that she wanted to ~~kiss~~ slap off. 

"Sasha Vanek." 

"Well, then. May I have this dance, Miss Vanek?", he repeated his question. 

Emily could stop trying to figure him out for an evening. For a dance. She could enjoy this. 

_It's him._

"You may", she replied and took his hand. 

He walked them over to the elegant dance floor just a few steps away and placed his hands on her hips while she put hers around his neck and started swaying.

They were awfully close, but Emily didn't mind it one bit. She found that recently, she doesn't mind close contact, being touched, when he was the one doing it. Other people doing it still freaked her out and she disliked it with a burning passion, but his soft touch on her arms, on her shoulders, to make sure she was okay, was too reassuring to meaninglessly try to escape it. Emily found that she didn't even want to. 

Once she paid attention to it, she noticed how they touched almost constantly: shoulders bumping together when they sat next to each other, hands holding when she wasn't feeling well, soft touches on her arms meant to steady her. She wondered how it escaped her before, but then again, she had different priorities back then. Hell, she still does, even more now than that last case, but she couldn't put it in the back of her mind and forget about it once she thought about it. 

He became an object of want, of longing, someone she thought about without reason, someone she leaned on without ever meaning to. 

A friend. A partner. Something along those lines, they've become more than either, more than they both ever dreamed of. 

She thought about everything they were, everything they became, everything they were yet to become, while she was currently in his arms, dancing along to the classic music playing live. 

"You look fantastic."

_Don't focus too much on the feeling of his hands on your hips._

"You're looking quite handsome too."

_Don't._

He smiled, twirled them around, and she noticed how well they function here as well - partners in the job, partners on the dance floor. They seem to seamlessly fall into a rhythm despite never having done this before. It doesn't surprise her anymore, it just feels content in a way that is so completely new, but comfortable as any old love is, in a way that just calls home to her. The most terrifying thing about it is how it _doesn't. terrify. her. **at. all.**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might get a second chapter, but I'm not sure yet. Nonetheless, I wanted to post this one already.


	4. I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you

they're not married, but they don't care about that. that's not the purpose, that's not some goal they're driving towards. she doesn't even think they want it.   
  
she's been married once and it felt right in the moment, but she closed the door on that side of her life and personality many years ago.   
Emily doesn't need nor want a wedding now.    
  
He was her partner. Which term she used for him - boyfriend, partner, husband - simply didn't matter. It wouldn't enlargen or make her affections disappear if she had a different term to refer him to.  
  
  
with that being said, she did feel the atmosphere change tonight - maybe it was the location they found themselves in, maybe it was the realisation she just had - but something felt different about tonight.   
  
"What are you thinking about?", Cal whispers in her ear while they keep swinging on the dance floor.   
  
It's date night and he had taken her to a dance restaurant that just opened up two months ago.    
  
They've been meaning to go, but they were getting bombarded with new cases lately. Crown gave them all the weekend off to recover from another torturous week, so they decided to go.   
  
They've dined and danced to a few songs so far and it's just so _nice._ They're the same, both always looking for some new trail to follow, for something fast-paced and (in most cases) dangerous, but Emily had to admit that she liked this.   
  
She loved them at work, they were amazing, in snyc and successful, but she loves them as a couple even more.    
  
And right now, she loves this version of them which means dancing and burying her nose in his neck very much.  
  
  
Emily might need the fast-paced flow of things at work in her life, but she absolutely needed this quiet part of them too - to keep things in balance. 

And in this moment, with the soft light shining down on them, when she saw his eyed which seems to be made just to look at her like with as much love as any human is able to feel, she did feel like she was dancing with her husband.


	5. morning routines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ash said emily makes him coffee bc she doesn't cook but he appreciates all the same bc they love each other!!! once and I was like... yes. let's explore that for a bit👀

Emily leans against the counter as she drinks her first sip of coffee today. She's always had this ritual, even before she was abducted, to take ten minutes of every day to make and drink a good cup of coffee to start well in the day. So far, the day may have not been great, but her mornings always were.  
  
Even more so since she and Cal moved in together. Emily always thought that she needed her ritual to have a few minutes on her own and never liked it when Nick came in a few minutes early and got her time short.   
Now she still liked to have a few minutes to herself (when she makes the coffee) but she doesn't mind sharing her mornings with Cal. It's been rather refreshing actually.   
  
After another minute, she takes both of their cups and placed them on his nightstand.  
  
"I know you're awake", she whispers and smiles.   
  
He smiles back at her, but doesn't open his eyes.  
  
"come on, don't pretend."   
  
There is still no reaction from him.  
  
she lowers herself and stop right before his face, with their lips so close that all they had to is breathe in and they would kiss each other.  
  
"come on, _muffin._ I got your coffee here.", she whispers in his mouth.  
  
she can feel his smirk more than she sees it but only has a second to process it before his lips land on hers.   
  
After what feels like forever, she pulls away and sits up.   
  
He opens his eyes and smiles at her and the love he shows her in his touch and smile and the way he looks at her is so raw and uncovered in the mornings, her breath hitches.  
  
Emily hands him his Coffee and takes hers in her hands before sitting down close next to him.  
  
"Thank you, dear.", Cal said.  
  
  
She only smiled as a response and snuggled herself deeper into his side. No matter what cruel things may wait in her head or the outside of their small world - this would always be here for her after a bad day, him, this friendship, trust, _bond._  
  
Ever since she first deleloped feelings for him,she knew that this would be it, that she wouldn't start again if they didn't work out for some reason. This was her last shot at romance, and god was she glad it seemed to stay.   



End file.
